Moiya's Hanging Ornaments and Arta's Lists

... Pinocchio ..

I wrote to Catherine telling her that I noticed by the email I received from her, that she was up at 3 am, typing emails.

She wrote back and said that since there is a 3 hour difference in our time zones, that would be 6 am when she was writing.

Getting up in the middle of the night to do email is not her idea of a good time.

... crotcheted and startched angels ...

Getting up in the middle of the night is something I am known to do. I just come to consciousness and think, “Quick, get your feet on the ground and see if you can get ahead of all others who are making lists today.”

Lately I make 2 lists. The long list and then I short-list some of the tasks. I make it sound like getting an important job – that word – short-list. To underline its importance I take the short list, put it on a large piece of paper and prop it up where I can see it. My habit is to take an item that looks fun to do and concentrate on that during the day.

Giupetto from the Pinocchio series

With my home-made poster, I am constantly reminded not to get off track. Doing this has helped me for the last 3 days with the jobs that are time-sensitive – you know, the jobs that if you don’t do them today, you can just strike them off the list, for they won’t even matter tomorrow.

... sequins and beads ...

Somewhere, far down on the list is ... getting out the Christmas decorations.

Ones that I can use to play with Michael.

He and I had a trip to the snow-laden park yesterday.

 ... this old ornament's turning mechanism still works ...

He had to hold my hand as he ran from the bottom of the slide to the stairs to go up the slide again.

His little feet were breaking through the ice-encrusted snow and going straight down.

... the carousel that turns on the tree ...

He isn’t used to having to pick them straight up and then over the top of the snow to the next step where his weight will have him break through again.

We only had one incident at the park. I could pick him up and get him into the baby swing – the one that is shaped like a bucket.

... remember when we would take a whole night stringing popcorn?...

But getting him out? I hadn’t calculated how high I would have to lift him up and then over – and since I am only working with 3 pound weights at home, I was trying to figure out how I would get him straight up and then over, since his feet kept getting anchored in the bucket. I was thinking, wow, I hadn’t figured on this one.

On the return trip home I was going to walk him by the University LRT Station and let him run up and down the ramp there to his heart’s content. But by the time we were there, his little cheeks were so red and his nose was starting to run, so I switched plans and taught him “step on a crack, you break your mother’s back”.

He had been stopping to stomp little crusts of ice along the edges of lawns. I thought stomping on cracks would help us edge closer to home.

"life-saver garland"

It doesn’t matter how long he has been out, he doesn’t want to go inside. Miranda says this of him even when he is out in the car. He knows our home street and says, “No go in the house” – cute little social creature. On our walk, when we got to the yard, he wanted to stay out and play in the frozen sand pile.

For him and me, it is all about timing – he wanting the most from the outside, and me wanting the most from every day.


Arta